We’ll Always Have ... Berlin?

I presume it’s no coincidence that the poster promoting the upcoming film The Good German, based on Joseph Kanon’s 2001 novel, bears a rather striking resemblance to the well-remembered come-on for Humphrey Bogart’s Casablanca.

Warner Bros., which distributed the 1943 wartime classic as well as George Clooney’s latest film, is obviously hoping to strike gold twice. And storytelling comparisons between the two movies can certainly--and easily--be made. These aren’t limited to the fact that German focuses on a former Berlin radio correspondent, Jake Geismar (Clooney), who in 1945, after the end of World War II, returns to Adolf Hitler’s devastated capital, ostensibly to write about U.S. occupation of that city--but with the intent, too, of locating Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett), the mysterious mistress he’d left behind when the fighting broke out. There’s also the twist that Lena is desperate to escape Berlin with her internationally hunted husband. (Can’t you just see Bogey and Ingrid Berman stepping into these roles, instead?) Of course, those plot lines are simply part of the terrifically complicated thriller that is Hammett Prize-winner Kanon’s The Good German--add in, as well, corruption, intrigue, murder, and the Potsdam peace conference. You can watch the movie trailer here.

The Good German, which co-stars Toby Maguire, is scheduled to open in American theaters on December 8.